Hen Off Feed With Swollen Crop and Small Greenish Poops

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

My 2.5 y/o Barred Rock didn't come out of the coop this morning, which was a red flag. Upon coaxing her out, I found her crop to be soft and swollen, and noticed her poops were a slimy yellowish-green. Here's some more info:

• History: she had recently started slowing down laying this summer, and then began laying soft and shell-less eggs intermittently. That seemed to stop, though she'd often sit in the nest box like she was laying without doing so every couple of days.
• Her appetite is suddenly low--she'll only eat high value treats. I haven't seen her drink since she first got up this morning.
• Her crop doesn't seem to be shrinking, though she does keep pooping small amounts of watery, sickly (yellow/green) poop that smells worse than usual.
• I thought she might be trying to pass an egg or egg material, but she's not 100% acting like she's trying to (no penguin stance or ongoing tail pumping.)
• She's mostly standing or laying down, but still talking to me whenever I visit. Tail up, combs and wattles red. Curious and alert but not very hungry.
• No stench coming from her mouth at this point.
• Her abdomen feels soft but firm, maybe a little swollen, but not enough for it to be super clear to me.

I called all the local vets, but sadly there is a vet conference that literally all three of my chicken vet options are attending--so NO ONE is around this week To make matters more stressful, I'm supposed to be leaving on vacation this Saturday, and my sitter would not be prepared to handle a very ill chicken.

I'm thinking about giving her a warm epsom bath and/or treating for sour crop. But I'm just so confused as to the myriad issues that could be behind this. Any suggestions on where to start?

 

[DobieLover]

She may have had an egg break inside her that caused an infection.
She may be laying internally. If she is that would cause a build up in her abdomen and would slow down her digestive tract causing her crop to not empty.
If she were mine, I'd try a course of Fishmox to see if that helped her. I'd give a 250 mg capsule 3x a day for 5 days and see if she improves.
I would isolate her in a dog crate in the coop to keep her with the flock and make treating her easier.
Offer her just water and a mash made from her normal feed and some poultry vitamins to help give her a boost.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

She may have had an egg break inside her that caused an infection.
She may be laying internally. If she is that would cause a build up in her abdomen and would slow down her digestive tract causing her crop to not empty.
If she were mine, I'd try a course of Fishmox to see if that helped her. I'd give a 250 mg capsule 3x a day for 5 days and see if she improves.
I would isolate her in a dog crate in the coop to keep her with the flock and make treating her easier.
Offer her just water and a mash made from her normal feed and some poultry vitamins to help give her a boost.

She ended up passing a weird soft shelled oblong alien looking white thing filled with egg white (no yolk) and perked right up after. She did that after a good old faithful Epsom bath. Hasn't laid anything since and has been acting well, though eating a bit less--it could be because she's stopped laying and starting a molt like a few of my others (in general everyone seems to be off lay and eating less). At least that's what I'm hoping!

I do notice her occasionally sit in the box like she's laying but with no egg. I'm worried internal laying might be the culprit, though again, I hold out hope. She's not yet seeming ill or swollen.

Thankfully, antibiotics weren't needed but I have them on hand if I need to act quickly. I don't belive anything broke in her but that she was blocked up with that weird soft egg thing. Thank you SO much for your helpful advice--I will tuck that away for the future.

 

[canne50]

You seemed to answer your own question- molt sounds right.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

You seemed to answer your own question- molt sounds right.

Unfortunately her molt is either slow/subtle or has stopped entirely. In any case I'm not noticing any more missing feathers and I believe she's laying internally. She heads to the nest box according to her schedule, sits there like she's laying, then comes out without any egg to show for it. I also feel like her abdomen below the vent/between her legs is a bit swollen and firm. Her poop is still on the watery side and she's not eating as much, but she seems bright and active. Today I've started reducing her sunlight to see if I can trigger a molt and get her to stop laying. I hate doing that, but it's the only thing that's worked with my other hen who has a reproductive issue (in her case she's way overproductive to the point of complications--even lays an egg every day with only 6 hours of sunlight).